The present invention relates, in general, to vehicle sun visors.
Sun visors are used in vehicles to provide front and side window protection from sunlight entry. Such sun visors are pivotal about a longitudinal axis between a stowed position adjacent the headliner and a deployed position angularly extending from the headliner. Most sun visors can also be unlocked from a headliner mounted clip or D-ring and pivoted to the side window about a support arm attached to the vehicle headliner. A biasing means is typically mounted within the visor to prevent movement and noise when the sun visor is in the stowed position.
Over the years, various enhancements or features have been added for sun visors to increase their versatility as well as to add other convenience factors to the vehicle occupants.
One such feature is the telescopic extension of the entire sun visor along the longitudinal axis of the support arm to enable the sun visor to be repositioned laterally across the windshield or the side window to block sun light entry in a particular direction for an occupant.
Another common feature is a mirror with or without a pivotal cover and with or without an illumination means which is mounted in one surface of the sun visor, typically the surface facing the headliner when the sun visor is in the stowed position. The sun visor need only be pivoted to the angular downward extending position to allow use of the mirror.
When an illumination means, such as lamps, are provided around the mirror, electrical conductors or wires extend through the A pillar of the vehicle body and the support arm to the individual lamps in the sun visor.
Various means have been provided to mount fabric or decorative covers over the plastic sun visor core. One such mount traps the ends of the fabric cover between the two clam shell core halves when the halves are moved to their closed, locked position. Another mount utilizes projections on the inner surfaces of the core halves over which the inner edges of the fabric cover are forced.
Heat stake projections have also been provided about the periphery of the core halves. In this mounting technique, the edges of the fabric cover are forced over the heat stake projections and then heat is applied to melt the stakes through the interstices of the fabric cover to fixedly retain the inner edges of the cover in a fixed position on the sun visor core.
The present invention is a sun visor having unique clam shell core attachment snap lock means.
In one aspect of the invention, the sun visor includes a core formed of first and second foldable core halves each pivotal about a common hinge edge. A plurality of receivers are mounted on the first core half, each receiver formed of at least a pair of latch arms extending angularly from the core halves toward each other.
A plurality of projections are formed on the second core half, each projection having a stem extending from the second core half and an enlarged head, the first and second latch arm having ends which are displacable when the head of the projection is inserted therethrough wherein the ends of the latch arms snap underneath the head into engagement with the projection to lock the projection in the and to lock the first and second core halves in a fully assembled, closed position.
In one aspect, the head defines a pair of opposed edges extending laterally outward from the stem, the edges engagable with the latch arms.
In another aspect, the latch arms are disposed at an acute angle with respect to a plane through a major extent of the second core half.
Each of the latch arms is normally spaced apart by a distance less than the dimension of the outer periphery of the head of the projection.
The sun visor with attachment snaps provides a unique attachment for sun visors having foldable core halves which provides easy insertion of one part into the other part while providing a high level of pull-out or separation force resistance to prevent inadvertent opening of the folded over core halves of the sun visor core. The unique snap attachments of the present invention provide increasing separation force resistance when force is exerted in a direction to separate the snap portions from each other.